TO A. G. SHLYAPNIKOV

Written:Written between May 6 and 13, 1916Published:First published in 1924 inLenin Miscellany II.

      Sent from Zurich to Christiania.

      Printed from the original.Source:Lenin
	  Collected Works,

      Progress Publishers,1971,

      Moscow,Volume 36,

      pages390-391.Translated:Andrew RothsteinTranscription\Markup:R. CymbalaPublic Domain:Lenin Internet Archive.You may freely copy, distribute,
	display and perform this work, as well as make derivative and
	commercial works. Please credit “Marxists Internet
	Archive” as your source.•README

DearAlexander,

Theconference is over, its manifesto has been published
(May 1).[2]I hope you receiveBerner Tagwacht—or some
other Swiss paper? If not, drop us a line, and we shall send
you the French text.

Grigoryis preparing a circumstantial letter about the
conference, and this will be sent to you.

Afterall, a manifesto was adopted: that is a step
forward,becauseit was accepted by the French deputies (three,
one of them the semi-chauvinist
Brizon).[3]A resolution
criticising pacifism, and a resolution on the International
Socialist Bureau, sharply criticising it, were adopted. On
the whole, this isnone the less, despite the mass of defects,
a step towards a break with the social-patriots.

Thistime the Left was stronger: a Serb, three Swiss and
a Frenchman (not a deputy;notfrom any group, but on
his own) reinforced our Left. Then there were two Germans
(from theInternationalegroup)[4]who supported us on
the main questions.

Haveyou seen the Huysmans manifesto? It contains
an unmistakable malicious “hint” about us! The
BraunschweigVolksfreundgave him a good answer.

Asregards the
Japanese,[5]we have decided to make
another, and, I hope, final, attempt to reach agreement:
(1) all the old agreements (verbal) are
cancelled;
(2) an
agreement between the Central Organ’s editorial board,
which edits the issue, and thepublishersto be concluded
from issue to issue, i.e., for each issue separately;
(3) No. 3
to be published at Berne (clearly it is impossible at
Stockholm).

Tryand see whether it will come off or not. If not, we
shall publishSbornik Sotsial-Demokrata. We can’t
wait.[6]

Hereis the plan for No. 3:

1)Materialfrom Russia (up to 3 sheets).

2)Thesesof the Central Organ’s editorial board on
self-determination.

3)Lenin’sarticle on the same subject.

4)The2nd Zimmerwald Conference. Grigory Zinoviev
or Lenin.

5)Bukharin:an economic subject.

6)Lyalinon the high cost of living.

7)Alexander—fromRussia.

8)ASerb and an Italian have promised articles.

9)Russianthemes—Grigory Zinoviev.

10)Radek—continuation(? hardly worth while. In
my opinion,
no).[1]

10)Kollontai—fromAmerica.

13)Thewomen’s labour movement.

14)Bookreviews.

15)AboutTrotsky, Martov and the Chkheidze group....

Thinkit over,probe the ground, get the facts, as
tactfully as possible, and reply as soon as you
can.[7]

Allthe best, and wishes for every success.

Yours,Lenin

P.S.As Nadya has already written, I agree with you on
the Jewish
miscellany.[8]Nadya has repeatedly written
to Berne for the material. Regards to Alexandra
Mikhailovna!

Yours,Lenin

[1]Thispoint is crossed out in the MS. Lenin, had in view a
continuation of the Radek article, “A Quarter of a Century of Development
of Imperialism”, carried in No. 1–2 ofKommunist.—Ed.

[2]TheSecond International Conference held in Kienthal (
Switzerland) from April 24 to 30, 1916.

[3]Amongthe French delegation at the Kienthal Conference were
Jean Longuet’s supporters: P. Brizon, A. Blanc and J. 
Raffin-Dugens, who after the war joined the French Communist Party;
Brizon soon left the party.

[4]TheLeft wing at the Kienthal Conference was stronger than at
Zimmerwald. At the First International Socialist Conference,
the Zimmerwald Left consisted of eight persons, and of twelve
at Kienthal, and on some issues obtained nearly one half the votes.
This was a reflection of the change in the balance of forces in the
international working-class movement in favour of the
internationalists.

Lenin,referring to the strengthening of the Left at the
Conference, has the following delegates in mind: Katslerovich (Serbia),
Flatten, Nobs, Agnes Robmann (Switzerland) and Guilbeaux
(France), who joined the Zimmerwald Left. The GermanInternationalegroup was represented by Berta Thalheimer and E. 
Meyer.

[5]Thename given to G. Pyatakov and Yevgenia Bosch because
they had emigrated from Russia to Switzerland via Japan.

[6]Therewas no agreement on Lenin’s terms.Sbornik
Sotsial-Demokratawas issued in place ofKommunist.

[7]Lenin’splan was not accepted by the Bukharin-Pyatakov group,
who insisted on their own plan, under which, apart from Lenin’s
articles on the right of nations to self-determination, the
publication was to contain articles by Radek, Pyatakov and Bukharin
on the national question.

[8]Themiscellany referred to here was to have been published abroad
on the basis of material brought by Shlyapnikov from Russia
and describing the condition of the Jews during the war.
However, it did not appear.